Merkel’s Power in 'Free Fall' as Germany Loses Control Over Own Borders

From the outside looking, it may seem that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is now at the peak of her power after 10 years in office. But on the inside, her political power has been seriously eroded, journalist Erik Kirschbaum wrote.

Recently, the chancellor has been criticized by both Germans and her coalition allies.

Merkel’s popularity has been in "free fall" over the last three months amid the refugee crisis in Europe and fears that the government is losing control of its borders. She faces a showdown with her own ruling party this weekend when the Christian Democrats meet at their annual party congress.

"There will be no vote this year, but plenty of testy debate is expected to surround the woman who was just named Time magazine's person of the year for her European leadership in the debt and refugee crises," the article read.

It added that many of the Christian Democratic delegates are upset about Merkel’s open-door policies on refugees, which is damaging her reputation.

"It's not acceptable that people are coming uncontrolled across Germany's borders. A country has to be able to keep control of its borders. Politically, we've given that up far too easily. That's not anyone's idea of national security," Christian Democrat lawmaker Armin Schuster was quoted as saying by the article.

Politicians from the Christian Democratic Union have pressured their leader Merkel to stop the migrant influx to Germany. However, so far Merkel has refused to introduce an "upper limit" in the number of refugees, a step which would close the border for new migrants.

According to polls, nearly 50 percent of German citizens support Merkel’s policy toward the migrant crisis. Over the recent months, chancellor’s popularity has dropped by 10-15 percent.

Earlier this month, media citing the country’s Interior Ministry reported that 965,000 refugees have been registered in Germany this year. The latest data from Frontex shows that some 1.2 million migrants came to the EU in the first ten months of 2015. The European Commission said the current migrant crisis is the worst since the World War II era.